Background Events

So this chapter is where I'm covering some of the more important events that happened before the story took place, just to help piece it together more efficiently.

I already said that this story would deviate from the game's canon, so I'll try to explain some of the timeline here as best as I can.

(SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE ENTIRE FIRST VOLUME YET!)

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The first volume takes place in 1976, which is around seven years before The Bite of '83, so that means that Fredbear's Family Diner is still in business. In this story, Fazbear Entertainment is a statewide chain corporation, so they own the Fredbear's Family Diner and the Circus Baby World chain attractions, as well as a few other brands. The early versions of the main four animatronics (Foxy, Bonnie, Chica, Freddy) exist, but they're not featured in Volume 1 because I thought it would've been random if they made an appearance(Hence the "Fredbear and Friends" commercial seen in FNAF 4).

Also, to clarify, the animatronics Fredbear and Spring Bonnie exist already, too. At this point in the timeline, Fredbear is the lead mascot of Fazbear Entertainment.

(The Springlock Failure of '74)

This event took place at a Fredbear's Family Diner location two years prior to the events of the first volume. We're first introduced to this event by Baby in Chapter 17, though she never mentioned the date nor who the victim was. Dave Miller tells William in Chapter 24 that he was the victim of this accident. There were several documents in Chapter 21 that gave a few more details about this event. It said that an employee (Dave) was trying to put on a Fredbear springlock suit. His reasons for doing so are unknown, but what is known is that the springlocks in Dave's suit weren't tightened enough. Police were unsure if this was sabotage or if this was a complete accident.

While Dave put on the mascot helmet and the torso, the springlocks snapped inside, leaving his body heavily scarred. The medical report stated that the sharp pieces of metal and plastic dug deep into a lot of his tissue, damaging his skin and internal organs. The accident also mildly damaged the back of his brain, but it wasn't severe. Dave lost a lot of blood as a result, and took him months to fully recover from the event.

It was also this event that caused Fazbear Entertainment to recall the early springlock suits and replace them with updated versions, particularly so that the springlocks would stay much more firmly bound so that another incident like this wouldn't happen again. But that didn't stop Dave from salvaging a few of them afterwards. The springlock suit that Dave traps William inside of in Chapters 17 and 18 is one of these recalled suits.

Shortly after the springlock failure, the Circus Baby World establishment that we see in Volume 1 began construction. Dave started working there after he recovered from the springlock failure, and was put in charge of designing and managing the animatronics there. It was here that he first decided to start building the "claw" design inside of Baby and Funtime Freddy, and soon enough decided to give it to Funtime Foxy and Ballora, too. He was also responsible for designing the unusually strong bite force that some of the animatronics had, too.

(The Body Found In The Vent)

There was another report in Chapter 21 that talked about a dead woman being found cramped in the air vents of Circus Baby World in 1974, while the building was still in construction. To be clear on this, this woman was not Angelica Warner. While Dave did murder Angelica, she died of much different causes, which I won't get into now. This woman is someone much different, and doesn't relate to Dave. This dead woman is actually a reference to the Fazbear Frights novel "1:35 A.M.", where in the first novella, we are introduced to a woman named Delilah.

(THIS WILL CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS FOR 1:35 A.M. SO IF YOU DON'T WANT IT SPOILED FOR YOU, SKIP THE NEXT PARAGRAPH)

Anyways, there is a lot to the story the mini-novella, so I'll just cut to the chase. Soon enough, Delilah ends up trapped inside a vent in an abandoned construction site and eventually gets murdered by Ella, a child-like animatronic doll that is seemingly haunted with supernatural energy(It's hard to explain if you haven't read it). Now of course, that isn't the case with MY story, but there are some similarities to it (Personally, for my story's version and for staying familiar with the established characters I've introduced so far, I think it would make sense if that dead woman I mentioned was killed by a Bibybad instead).

(The Missing/Murdered Children Incidents)

As we know, Dave specifically designed and programmed the main animatronics at Circus Baby World to kidnap children and keep them inside, insuring that they would disappear without a trace and so that he could later on take any children caught inside of one and murder them out of the customer's and the other employees' sights. Originally, when he showed his early designs, Mr. Cunningham wasn't entirely sure what some of the "strange features" were for, but he had no clue that it would be used for kidnapping children. So he didn't suspect much...at first.

Several of the children Dave murdered weren't actually directly killed by him. In fact, most of them, such as Elizabeth and the souls who possess Funtime Freddy and Funtime Foxy, suffocated inside of the animatronics due to lack of oxygen before he could do anything. But he was able to kill a few unlucky ones who didn't suffocate. The children who possessed Bon-Bon, Bonnet and Lolbit were rescued, and then stabbed to death by Dave. He was very good at covering his tracks, but then word got out about several children going missing at Circus Baby World.

The police got involved shortly afterwards and searched the place, but they couldn't find any trace of the children's bodies. Dave became one of their prime suspects, but since they didn't have any evidence to convict him, they soon let him go. They didn't get involved again until Elizabeth's accidental death. Like with the missing children, they couldn't find any actual evidence to incriminate Dave, so they let him go again, but they decided to keep tabs on him. They knew something was up with him.

After Elizabeth's death, Dave's mental health went downhill, even further than when he suffered from the springlock failure. And as for Angelica's death, well, that I won't be mentioning just yet. Currently all we know is that Dave did murder her, but it's never mentioned how or why he did it.

(The "Malfunctions")

Of course, eventually, the souls of Dave's victims possessed the animatronics, and at first they caused all kinds of problems. They weren't following their programming, they were much more aggressive and violent than usual, and they even started attacking the employees and customers. Because of this, the establishment had no choice but to enforce certain safety precautions to prevent issues like this. Funtime Foxy would be kept in pitch darkness after closing hours, Ballora had her eyes forcefully locked, and Funtime Freddy got a Bon-Bon hand-puppet to calm him down. Just to give a few examples.

Eventually, Henry Emily, who also works for Fazbear Entertainment, soon found out about a few incidents relating to dismemberment that involved some of the animatronics, namely Funtime Freddy. He helped cover for Mr. Cunningham for quite a few months. Fazbear Entertainment was able to cover up most of these mishaps.

(The Four Baby Suits)

The extra suit versions of Circus Baby that first appear in Chapter 21. The first suit is the child stage, or around the same age Elizabeth was before she died. Note how William states that it bared a heavy resemblance to Elizabeth, too, almost a look-like. The second suit looks like a slightly older version of the first suit, almost like a twelve year old. The third suit is Baby's favorite, which is the teenager stage of these suits. This one looks somewhat like a combination between Elizabeth and her mother, Angelica. The fourth suit is the adult stage, and this one looks much more like Angelica, and it can also transform into the original Circus Baby animatronic suit.

I know that adding this in might be a bit confusing, so I'll try to explain this. You see, there is a much deeper reason why Dave made these extra suits. Anyways, these suits are a reference to the third book in the FNAF "Twisted" series, "The Fourth Closet". Now, in that one, there aren't four separate versions of Baby in it (except for the fourth one) but it is still important to understanding the purpose of these suits.

I really don't want to explain too much of this, because when I first read "The Fourth Closet", it practically killed my braincells. There were a lot of complicated, messy and convoluted parts of that story that I absolutely hated, and it's one of the best examples of bad writing I have ever read. But I thought there were some points that could've been good if they were actually thought about and developed first. Moving on.

If you pay close attention to the suits, you might realize that each new suit brings an older version of Elizabeth, like a stage of each critical part of one's life. First it's a child, then a pre-teen, then a teenager, and finally, a fully grown adult. But I won't go into much detail about THAT until Volume 2 comes out. (Hopefully)

(The House Monitors)

In Chapter 26, we see Helpy type a code (1983) into the button pad on the security office wall, and that causes the three monitors on the desk to show three images of some kind of house. Now, of course, this is a reference to the house in FNAF 4, but then again, it's not just a reference. There is a bit more to this house than the story lets on. That's going to be covered in Volume 2 as well. At least I hope I can get to it. I know there will be a lot more going on, but I think I can manage it.

(Keep in mind that this chapter might be subject to updates)